


across the veil

by ziskandra



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Flower Crowns, Gen, and it's totally fine, in which luna can converse with spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26834683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziskandra/pseuds/ziskandra
Summary: "He’s happy now. He wasn’t very happy here, I think. Apart from when he was with you."During Harry's sixth year, Luna attempts to provide him with some comforting news.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30
Collections: Bring Your Own Boos 2020





	across the veil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Calacious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/gifts).



They'd been roped into helping Hagrid feed the Thestrals after running into each other on the grounds when Luna interrupted their idle chatter about homework and the Slug Club and Quidditch and fixed Harry with a piercing stare. “He says hello, you know.”

Luna so often made Harry feel like she was having a conversation to which he hasn’t been invited. He fumbled with the raw meat in his hands. “Er, what… sorry?”

If she was disconcerted by his response, she didn’t show it, instead continuing on unperturbed. “Your godfather. Sirius? I spoke with him just the other night.”

Harry’s skin grew clammy as he heard his heartbeat roar in his ears. He’d spent so much time since the end of the last school year, since everything that happened in the Department of Mysteries, trying to convince himself that it hadn’t been his fault, and he'd failed miserably.

The bloody mirror. If only he hadn’t forgotten its existence!

Without any further ado, Luna sat down, cross-legged. She patted the plush grass beside her in invitation, and wordlessly, Harry accepted. The ground was still damp from last night’s rainfall but he pushed through the mild discomfort.

He was too curious about what Luna has to say.

A thoughtful noise hummed from the back of her throat as she began to pluck daisies by their stems. He wondered if she was growing to break the silence, but he was too impatient. The words spilled out of him more angrily than he’d intended. “What d’you mean, you spoke with him?”

It simply didn’t make any sense at all. He recalled what Nearly Headless Nick had said to him last year: that most wizards chose not to linger in this world, that they would, instead, choose to _move on_. Was there a portrait of Sirius somewhere that Harry was unaware of?

“I found him in that place,” Luna started vaguely, and as Harry’s anger gave way to confusion, she added, “on the other side of the veil.”

Thinking about those last few moments, where Sirius had slipped out of sight with that smile on his face, made Harry’s chest clench uncomfortably, throat tightening as he felt himself choking on held-back tears. Maybe Luna saw the way Harry’s hands furled into fists, because she continued unprompted. “It’s thinner at night. It makes it easier to reach across…” Her eyes fluttered shut, as though reminiscing. “Not that you can go there, not properly, not until…” She trailed off with a shrug, fixing Harry with an intense stare once more, as though to say _you can fill in the blanks_.

And he could.

Luna returned her attention to the daisies, threading them together with admirable dexterity. “I’ve always been attuned to spirits,” she said, “but it’s easier to wait for them to come than to seek them out.” She cocked her head to one side. “Anyway. He wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry you didn’t get to spend more time together. But that he’s happy now. He wasn’t very happy here, I think. Apart from when he was with you.”

Harry was still busy trying not to cry in front of Luna. Maybe should could tell, because she let go of her almost complete chain of daisies with one hand and reached out to pat Harry’s, just once. “You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know.” She paused once more, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she connected the two ends of the daisy chain. “You saved him. He’s at peace now. He’s with your parents.”

Something about Luna’s final clarification made something splinter inside Harry, and before he could help himself, a sob escaped his mouth and he buried his face in his hands. “I should have done more,” he said. He shouldn't have let Wormtail escape. He should have worked harder to clear Sirius's name. They should have built a home together. 

Luna placed the crown of daisies atop his head. “You’ve done enough. For all of us.”

He appreciated her certainty, her confidence, her companionship in times like this.

But more than anything, he wished he could believe her.


End file.
